[rmrfrmrf]

My assumption was that at least part of the reason for isolation measures is to prevent what happened with the Spanish Flu, where unfettered transmission created the conditions for a mutation that turned the U curve for mortality into a W curve.

[mathdev]

I think it's mostly to avoid the bad press of having to do triage at hospitals, long-term consequences be damned.

[catalogia]

Is Covid-19 more likely to suddenly mutate and become more lethal to young adults than, say, some strain of influenza doing that (again)?

[mathdev]

The opposite. It mutates more slowly than the flu.